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0 of 3 Premium Clicks used this month SUBSCRIBE Print + Online Subscriber Activation | Register x Forgot Password | Need an Account? e-edition | subscribe | newsletter | deals Classifieds Jobs Autos Real Estate FEATURED » NEWS NOW Defiant dredgers tell state of Oregon to 'drop dead' ... 'Vision Quilt' project aimed at gun violence ... Community Justice director's brother also charged with drug crime ... Defiant dredgers tell state of Oregon to 'drop dead' ... 'Vision Quilt' project aimed at gun violence ... Community Justice director's brother also charged with drug crime ... Feds By Paul Fattig MailTribune.com By Paul Fattig Posted Apr. 15, 2000 at 2:00 AM Updated Feb 16, 2011 at 8:13 AM By Paul Fattig Posted Apr. 15, 2000 at 2:00 AM Updated Feb 16, 2011 at 8:13 AM » Social News : Miners' home illegal; they must go — — — But family says it's living legally on 1992 claim — — GALICE-- Gold miner Jack Strubel doesn't want to stray far from his mining cabin along Galice Creek these days. I'm afraid we'll go some place and they'll just come in and burn down my house, he said of the cabin he and his wife, Cheryl, occupy on the historic Leopold Mining Claim located on 120 acres of Bureau of Land Management property. They don't give you no warning, he added. Their justification is that 'Everything I tell you is right.' Well, I don't think they're right. BLM officials, who flatly reject as nonsense his suggestion the federal government would burn down his home, say they filed a complaint Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Eugene to have the Strubel family removed from the mine after numerous attempts to work with the couple failed. The Strubels continually have broken the 1872 mining law and current environmental regulations, officials said. We have worked with them for more than two years, said Karen Perault, spokeswoman for the BLM's Medford District. We have sat down with them and encouraged them to get into compliance. The Strubels have a right to mine, she added. But they have to obey the law. We filed the complaint after exhausting all other options. The mine is about 20 miles west of Grants Pass on the north fork of Galice Creek, an area where gold mining first began about 150 years ago. Many miners still continue to hunt for gold in the steep ravines. The Leopold Mine was established back in the mid-1800s. The Strubel case represents about 60 such cases where people may be living illegally on mining claims in the vast district, according to Doug Parker, the BLM's Grants Pass field manager. There are about 160 cases on BLM land in Oregon and Washington, he added. We have no problem with people who need to live on public land to mine (a valid claim), he said. But the occupancy regulations have been revised to deal with people living on public land under the guise of mining who were not mining. The Strubels have not obtained the necessary state permits for living on the land, including sanitation, Parker said. We don't want the creek to be polluted, he said, adding that the agency is also concerned about a large slide that occurred uphill from the cabin in 1997. The Strubels have been accused of illegally cutting trees in the riparian zone as well as violating mining regulations, according to the BLM. Longtime Galice area miner Geoff Garcia believes the Strubel case reflects the growing unpopularity of mining today. It's like an environmental witch hunt going on now, Garcia said. We're being beaten to a pulp. Miners are being inundated with bureaucratic paperwork that stops them from working, he said. You could call it paralysis by analysis, he said. Meanwhile, you can't do anything and you go broke. There is no witch hunt, said Barbara Ullian, an environmental activist and member of the Siskiyou Regional Education Project in Cave Junction. The problem, she said, is that mines such as that operated by the Strubels continue to cause serious environmental damage. Galice Creek offers habitat for the coho salmon, which has been listed as threatened under the federal Endangered Species Act, she noted. This is a group of people who say the laws don't apply to them, she said. They seem to feel they don't have to follow the laws like the rest of us. But the Strubels, who say they bought the claim in 1992, maintain they are meeting the 1872 mining law and trying to work with the BLM. She is the claimant of record; he is the mining operator of record. They have three children, ages 9, 7 and 5. We're kind of in a pushing match with the BLM right now, said Jack Strubel, 41. They've changed the rules but they aren't giving us time to respond to those changes. We have surface management rights. We have timber rights. We have water rights. Of course, the government denies all of that. The Strubels say they have been working to reclaim the land while placer mining in an environmentally friendly manner with holding ponds. They have been getting good gold, he said. There was nothing here but gravel when we got here, he said. My wife and I have planted trees and brought in topsoil. There are plenty of fish in the creek, he said. The BLM is trying to close us down and get us out of here, he said. Mr. Clinton and (Interior Secretary Bruce) Babbitt are trying to protect the whole environment. The Strubels, who rebuilt the old cabin on the site, say they are already deeply in debt with legal bills trying to stay on the claim. I don't want no problems with the BLM, he said, saying he has no guns. I want to work with them. But they are wanting to take away my livelihood. The miners have had every opportunity to continue mining by simply complying with environmental laws and regulations, Perault reiterated. This court complaint should come as no surprise, she said. We have told them on numerous occasions that they have to comply. They haven't. The BLM issued a notice for the couple to vacate the site in February 1998, but the order was appealed. The BLM decision was upheld by the Interior Board of Land Appeals in Arlington, Va. We have tried very hard to work with them, she said. We have exhausted all our options. By Paul Fattig MailTribune.com By Paul Fattig Posted Apr. 15, 2000 at 2:00 AM Updated Feb 16, 2011 at 8:13 AM » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. Southern Oregon Directory Featured Businesses Loading... 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